I mean, either that or people who have no problem with lying to fans/competitors to win $ don’t stop lying when caught. It’s one of the two. — Chris Derrick (@CDerrickRun) June 26, 2014

Derrick said, “That’s an unfortunate situation where everyone involved in the sport didn’t know, like have proof to turn him in, but we all knew. I mean I’ve heard people call him ‘MoPO’”. He said he feels like Trafeh getting banned is a good thing because he is someone he felt shouldn’t have been in the sport and now he’s not.

Trafeh’s lawyer had told us that redemption in the running community was something very dear to him, so we asked Derrick what he would like to hear come from Trafeh when he does publicly speak about his EPO bust. Derrick said:

“You know honestly, I don’t really care. One thing I hope he doesn’t say, is I hope he doesn’t come out with that, pardon my language, but frankly bullshit, ‘Oh everybody’s doing it, I had to do it’ because that’s not true. I think that overall … I mean there’s a couple people that people have suspicions about … but the culture of American distance running is very clean and very solid. … And I hope he doesn’t try to put this on someone else [or the culture]. … I think there’s very few coaches in this country pushing drugs. If you’re going to go out and do that it’s on you.”

@bentrue Class-action lawsuit to try to recoup some of the tens of thousands we’re owed by #MoTrafeh?

Vail lost out on thousands of dollars to Trafeh (he was sixth and fifth in the Gate River Run 15k in Jacksonville in 2010 and 2011; Trafeh won the race both years) and said that it hurt to know Trafeh had been busted with EPO possession.

“I ran with him a lot at Gate River,” Vail said. “He was a really nice guy. Obviously all of us had our suspicions. You’re being stolen from the last three or four years most likely and that’s hard to take. Hopefully there’s some kind of ramification other than him retiring.”

Vail said that he knows it’s unlikely athletes such as himself will recoup money from races Trafeh won, but that he didn’t want to see Trafeh keep the money. He raised a good point: “What’s the incentive to not do it if you get to keep the money and then just retire?”

Vail hinted earlier that some athletes had their suspicions about Trafeh and we asked him to expand on that.

“There was definitely talk among the athletes. He made such a huge jump, crushing his 10k PR in the middle of a 15k. It’s going to draw anyone’s suspicions…When you see unusual jumps like that, it makes you question things.”